Strange Days Indeed!

 Welcome back to another episode of Lost In the Farmers Market, and although this post is just a full week late there is a good reason for that. The fall tour was on Sunday the 18^th and the preparation work for it was pretty serious as were  demands for additional hours by my day job. Additionally, in that same time period I posted my 50^th garden video to Youtube and was working on where to go from, there and how to announce what the channel would be doing in 2021. You can see my garden videos at the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/user/curacaovexxor/videos

Well anyway, I figured out what direction to take the garden videos, and also figured out what needed to go on this blog and am still working like a dog at my day job. The tour went well but the garden wasn’t as ready as I would have liked but they say an artist is never happy with their work or something like that.  So as you all can tell it’s both Autumn and Hurricane season which makes for oddly bizarre weather in the southeast, one day it’s like summer, then it’s raining and humid as hell, then it’s raining and cold and then cold at night only and the randomness just goes on and on. What some of you readers out there might not know is that you can plant your cold-season crops as late as mid-November. Also if you have a large enough pot your crops don’t expressly have to go in the ground so there are alternative options for planting something pretty, for food or a mixture of both. Our first official frost date is December 1^st so we have an entire month to get down with the gardening. Typically the frost date can vary by plus or minus a week but that’s still most of November. In light of this I am planning an expansion of the vegetable patch and that will be covered in the next post. In mirror of the cold-season crops you can plant now, my Youtube channel is covering cold-season crops exclusively so you know what you are getting into. The next six videos will cover Kohlrabi, Red Cabbage, Swiss Chard, Lettuce, Japanese Mustard, and Mustard greens respectively. There will be two episodes posted per week so all of your garden info will be ready to go. But enough of this talk of videos and garden stuffs, how about some garden photographs!

This year I decided that my growing tray winter annuals would be Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus), these are the pink ones. I also planted red ones and white ones all of the Liberty series, since Pansies and Violas really don’t cover the pinks or the richest of reds these potted annuals will fill the bill. Plus only bumblebees can get at their nectar which encourages them to stick around.

 

Here is a picture of the last of the Giant Mission Marigolds (Tagetes erecta), but unlike prior pictures a close up of the fabulous chrysanthemum flower heads. This right here and the fact they get three feet tall is why I bought the slightly overpriced seed. If the marigolds had a king, this would certainly be it.

 

 

Canna Lilies (Canna generalis) are a common sight in the south, though normally they are of the red-blooming variety. I originally got these specimens from a relative and they persevered in a less than ideal spot until they were moved into the crescent bed where they are recovering and expanding rather nicely. I actually thought they were orange or red, but the Canna which bloomed last year proved me wrong.

 

 

I know I posted this picture in the last post, but I’ve managed to get a fair amount of seed from these morning glories (Ipomoea purpurea). If they breed true the red-yellow combo might be something big and very cool, you can expect more updates on this in the future.

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. Also, as of the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

Fresh Produce:*
Soup Kit: Parsnip: $6.00
Soup Kit: Turnip: $6.00

Food Plants: (3” Peat Pots)
Arugula: $3.00
Cabbage, Ruby Perfection: $3.00
Celery, Tango: $3.00
Collards, Carolina: $3.00
Kale, Lace: $3.00
Kale, Lacinato: $3.00
Kale, Marrow Stem: $3.00
Kale, Red Russian: $3.00
Kale, Scotch Blue Curled: $3.00
Kale, Winterbor: $3.00
Kohlrabi, Cossack: $3.00
Swiss Chard, Mixed: $3.00
Spinach, Avon: $3.00


Herbs: (3” Peat Pots)
Black Fennel: $3.00

 
Coming Soon:
Garlic Bulbs
Ginger
Seasoning Packets

*You can special order a specific vegetable by the pound if you want anything specific that is in the soup kits or any specific herb contained in the seasoning packets. Vegetables are sold by the pound and seasonings are sold by the ounce when sold individually.

We have a new place to share information and work on groovy sustainable stuff!  You can look for Sustainable Neighbors in our own Nextdoor.com group under the name “Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville”. You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join but it is a private group so feel free to request to join us if you are signed up on the Nextdoor.com site.

https://nextdoor.com/g/ybvdm226x/?is=nav_bar

 

Unfortunately, Covid-19 is still mucking up the works in terms of meeting in person. The good news is that Sustainable Neighbors does have a Discord Server. You can request access through our Meetup.com page or you can request access via our Nextdoor.com group. The meetup.com page is below for anyone looking to join us.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to buy anything or maintain any sort of attendance standard, you can come on in and join the meetings. When this Covid-19 mess calms down we may be able to resume normal in-person meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market. This brings to a close the twentieth LITFM post of 2020; stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 30^th of October. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.

In Winter's Grasp

 As always in February there is some sort of winter precipitation event and this year we got to the third week before we got hit. These pansies will recover, but while partially encased in ice they serve as a metaphor for that sort of crazy impatience gardeners get in longing for the spring.

Some azaleas were not so fortunate just a few feet away, encased in ice I cannot count on this area not being damaged.

In a repeat of last yer icicles form a neat trim on the gutter of the rear of the house.

The white pines are used to being treated harshly by old man winter, you could say they relish it as though it were a sick pleasure.

Figs were encased also and only the spring will determine if they survive this brief encounter.

Looking like some crystalline spider, or a mass of strange coaxial cables this muscadine grape stands out as a delicately frozen ice sculpture.

I wonder, will this juvenile long leaf pine survive being frozen solid and  flattened to the ground due to the weight of the ice that suffocates it?

What is this? I don't even!

As much as the white pine can scoff at winter's abuse someone had to take the retaliation, here one pine has shed a large number of branches on one facing, a tragedy of sorts.

The heavenly bamboo did alright.

That's all for this week, LITFM will be back next week with a serious indoor project in progress that all of you out there might be very interested in. Check back soon!

Delayed part II

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmer’s Market. As promised this week has a double post and this post is the second of the two. If you checked out our last post you would know that the double post is due to the semester starting and for at least the first week my schedule being thrown into pure chaos.With that said we promised you a look at the test garden labs and what we are doing to keep the local food train rolling all winter long.

The crops for sale and the most delicate plants are protected with a plastic sheet and grow under a fluorescent grow lamp to compensate for any lost lumen hours..

So this is the 'wind proof' area, it's purpose is to shelter the more delicate plants, while allowing them them the maximum amount of lumen hours so their growth is not stunted. As I always say, it is the drying effect of wind that causes the worst frost damage.

It's worse then that he's dead jim!

This is what I call an effective crop loss. All of these Japanese Red Giant Mustard plants were outside when the temperature dropped to 14 degrees for that one night about two weeks ago, and most of them are still alive. Unfortunately I cant bring them inside due to limited space so I brought in just a limited few and all of the lettuce and radicchio.

The radicchio seems oblivious to having been frozen or frost while the lettuce looks like hell but is recovering.

Much to my surprise on that 14 degree night all of the radicchio and lettuce froze solid, but the radicchio thawed and kept on as though nothing happened while the lettuce lost most of it's leaves and got a nasty aphid infestation. So I fertilized all of these guys last week, cut off all the dead stuff and used insecticidal soap to hose down the lettuce and just yesterday when I took this picture they seem to be recovering (lettuce) just fine.

These Red Giant Mustard plants were untouched by the cold and were brought in.

To the left of the plastic tarp in the earlier section you have two of the three intact red giant mustard plants. The third was left outside due to a fire ant infestation. In front of the Mustard plants is a semi-hardy type of ice plant and a Cuban oregano. In the two pots to the right are a pair of Collard plants.

Below the plastic bench are two more pots!

These two pots once contained Red Giant Mustard Plants but the cold killed the prior occupants and so I replanted with two surplus Savoy Cabbage Plants. This of this as a means to have a later harvest, they are positioned under the grow lamp to give them a bit of a boost. But finally we have the last picture, of the one plant that scoffed at the cold and refers to the winter as a "Frigid Wuss!"

Oh snap! Winter got called out by the Pansies!

Wow....winter, you got punked by a bunch of pansies, if that was me I'd be too humiliated to go on and would let spring take over.  That right there is super cold, but true. That is right folks despite the name pansies are tough little cold season annuals and can withstand being completely frozen plus they are edible, the flowers can go into salad. So yes your garden can keep going cold or no and this brings us to the end of a fill-in episode of Lost in the Farmer's Market. Considering the snowy eather we are soon to have in certain parts of the east coast please everyone think rationally and if you are in a area about to be hit; please drive safely. 

Thank you for reading and remember, I am at the Fayetteville City Market barring wet weather on Saturdays between 9:00 am - 1:00pm which is located at 325 Franklin Street in downtown Fayetteville in the front parking lot of the Fayetteville Transportation Museum.

Oh October, well played you saucy month!

Welcome back to another episode of LITFM,  and we were planning a post about how to  plant a tree but unfortunately a material shortage put that planned event on hold while the property was prepared for the garden tour in two weeks. For note the Sustainable Neighbors Garden tour is on November 2^nd, so if you want to be a location on the tour or attend the tour please sign up at the sustainable neighbor’s site below.

http://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/events/212065332/

The container garden persists even in winter as this picture demonstrates. Lettuce, radicchio and Japanese red giant mustard all occupy spots in this winter container garden. The last of the peppers and eggplant are there just to squeeze a few more fruits out of the plants.

Striped Togo eggplant. As the fruit mature they eventually turn all-orange, which makes them kind of cool as a Halloween decoration. At his point they are super-bitter as the seeds inside are nearly mature and ready for harvesting.

A very large male Wolf Spider. I found this guy in the dining room barely moving because it was probably cold, so using a drinking glass and a piece of cardboard I got him back outside in the sun where he could warm up.

Amaranth 'Love Lies Bleeding' - Amaranth did super-good this year but this patch of love lies bleeding was from seed sown early on that finally germinated.

All those zinnias I planted in mid summer have paid off, as this Monarch butterfly visited and sat still long enough for me to snap this shot at close range.

             The weather looks gorgeous for the market this Saturday and possibly for the Wednesday beyond. The Fayetteville Farmers Market is a year-round event that runs from 9:00am to 1:00pm on Saturdays and 2:00 to 6:00 pm on Wednesdays. Also there are a few farmers who set up for fourth Friday and indeed we have really good market coverage if any of you are willing to come on down to the biggest farmers market in the region.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

This is the second edition of my book, which was published using data compiled from several years of test garden operations. It’s written to aid gardeners of all skill levels in successful garden methods that are targeted for the south east but had proven to be a valued resource for gardens across the eastern coast. It’s certainly a good gift for that gardener you know or for yourself if you’d like to have a reliable field guide. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed.

Perennial:

1x Grape, Copper Muscadine - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Cold Season Crops

6x Romaine Lettuce, “Rouge d’Hiver” - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Romaine Lettuce, “Parris Island Cos” - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Bibb Lettuce, Black Seeded Simpson - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Radicchio, “Rossa di Verona” - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Mustard Greens, India - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Mustard Greens, Japanese Red Giant - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Cabbage, Copenhagen Market  - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Cabbage, Savoy – Perfection Drumhead  - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Collards, Georgia Southern Creole - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Kale, Redbor/Red Russian - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Snow pea, Snowbird - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

This brings to a close a somewhat short episode of LITFM, hopefully by next week we'll have something really cool for you to consider, and if not....FARM TOUR the week after!